Wales set to benefit from Team GB football concept

Team Gb was a useful concept with Welsh players showing their quality in an English dominated team

Many have dubbed Team GB a one-off publicity team for the just concluded London Olympics while a few have questioned the very essence of having a Great Britain team that comprises of just the English and Welsh players, while Scots and Northern Irishmen keep themselves away from the issue, fearing compromise of their single state football freedom. Yet one must admit that the Great Britain football team was a tremendous success, despite failing to win a medal.

Stuart Pearce tried his level best to put out a team that thrived on the typical British spirit in an Olympic atmosphere and enabled highly paid young professional footballers to smell the Olympic air. The pride of being recognised as an Olympian encompasses everything else that an athlete achieves in his or her lifetime and for the entire young squad of English and Welsh players this concept was something new, something they will cherish for the rest of their lives for sure. Even for seasoned pros like Manchester United‘s legendary captain Ryan Giggs and captain of Team GB, participating in the Olympics had been completely different compared to winning countless silverwares for Manchester United. London 2012 helped the veteran Giggs realize one unfulfilled dream and that is to lead an international team in a high profile international tournament. Wales never managed to give him that opportunity but GB did.

Let’s not talk about petty controversies like why the Welsh players did not sing the British national anthem or why Gareth Bale opted out citing injury, even though he played for Tottenham in pre-season, and come to an unfortunate conclusion that the concept was totally out of range – just another way of making up the number of British athletes in the home Olympics. Why are we forgetting that this team won two games against the UAE and a much stronger Uruguay after drawing the opening fixture against a marauding Senegal side to top the group? Maybe the curse of the penalty shootout came back to haunt GB again following in the footsteps of team England in the Euros, but remember, Welshman Aaron Ramsey was a penalty kick away in regulation time to probably score the winner in the quarter final against South Korea.

Rio de Janeiro may not witness another Team GB football side in four years time but one just cannot deny the fact that Welsh youngsters shared the limelight more than their English counterparts and all eyes were on how the Welsh and English players get along with each other representing Her Majesty’s Great Britain. Players like Craig Bellamy, a passionate dragon, and young Joe Allen caught the eyes of the British public with their level of dutifulness at the Olympics, and former Liverpool star Bellamy even termed their mixing with amateur athletes from all over the world in the Olympics village as something unique and beautiful.

London 2012 brand ambassador David Beckham‘s exclusion from the Great Britain team raised a lot of eyebrows with Team GB boss Stuart Pearce coming in for some sharp criticism but the LA Galaxy man’s absence from the side paved the way for the general public to witness some of the fantastic talents that Wales and England possess. It is difficult to say what would have happened had Becks been included but one thing’s for sure: a lot of unnecessary media hype had been avoided and the younger players must have felt secured having been left to pursue their own goals led by the mild mannered Ryan Giggs, who likes to keep a low profile.

With the Olympics football tournament acting more or less as an U-23 competition, few of the Welsh players benefited from the experience ahead of a busy autumn of international football. Welsh manager Chris Coleman believes the Olympics have provided his players with the belief necessary to succeed at international tournaments. The former Fulham boss, who replaced the late Gary Speed as the national coach in February, is full of praise for his Welsh players who performed exceptionally well at the Games. More than their performance, it’s the attitude of the players having a great time with Team GB that impressed the young manager most. He was quoted as saying,

“To be fair to (Stuart) Pearce he gave me a call before the Uruguay game and said ‘we are in Cardiff come and have a chat with the boys’.

“I went and had a coffee with them and they said they were really enjoying it. They felt fitter because the games are obviously more important than a pre-season friendlies.

“So in terms of that we’ve been quite lucky really and it’s worked in our favour.

“It wasn’t just the injuries we were worried about it was the cards because they carried over.

“As it turned out they will probably be fitter now than they would have been after two or three pre-season friendlies with their clubs.

“They’ve all had 90 mins and are in a better shape, it’s a bit of a head start for them and us.

“I thought they were all superb. It was hard for Stuart because he was throwing a team together but the Welsh boys acquitted themselves very well.”

Competing with the best, against the best, at such a big stage must have given the Welsh boys a lot of belief going into the crucial World Cup qualifying campaign that starts in September. Wales have nothing to be proud of when it comes to international football but at least a few of the dragon boys can carry that Olympic spirit into the Welsh set up that is gearing up for a tough opening clash against Belgium early next month in a complicated group that also features fellow ‘Brits’ Scotland, Balkan rivals Serbia and Croatia.

Chris Coleman before the Gary Speed Memorial International Match between Wales and Costa Rica

The likes of Joe Allen, Neil Taylor, Craig Bellamy and Aaron Ramsey will have Olympic inspiration fresh in their memories and this could be a launchpad for better things to dream of for the entire Welsh nation come Brazil 2014 and the journey begins in earnest with Wednesday’s international friendly against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Llanelli.

Four years might just be a long time yet with odds stacked against Britain entering another unified football team for the Rio games having participated in London after 52 years, one home nation that would be looking forward to provide young talents and nurturing them for future glories though would be Wales.